A Cry in the Dark (1988)

Directed by Fred Schepisi based on the novel Evil Angels by John Bryson

120 Minutes (PG-13)

Images

Cast

Meryl Streep

Lindy Chamberlain

Sam Neill

Michael Chamberlain

Dale Reeves

Aiden, age 6

David Hoflin

Aiden, age 8

Jason Reason

Aiden, age 11

Michael Wetter

Reagan, age 4

Kane Barton

Reagan, age 6

Trent Roberts

Reagan, age 9

Maurie Fields

Coroner Denis Barritt

Bruce Myles

Queen's Counsel Ian Barker

Lewis-Fitzgerald

Stuart Tipple

Brendan Higgins

Andrew Kirkham

Nick Tate

Detective Graeme Charlwood

Mervyn Drake

Inspector Michael Gilroy

Vincent Gil

Derek Roff

Bill McCluskey

Greg Lowe

Debra Lawrance

Sally Lowe

Bruce Clarkson

Les Smith

Charles "Bud" Tingwell

Justice James Muirhead

Sandy Gore

Joy Kuhl

Kevin Miles

Professor James Cameron

Gary Files

Professor Malcolm Chaikin

Reviews

Roger Ebert*** (out of 4 stars)"A Cry in the Dark" takes time to marshall the case against Lindy, and the time to destroy it...Fred Schepisi, who directed and co-wrote the film, has used Australian public opinion as sort of Greek chorus in the background. He cuts away to tennis games, saloons, filling stations and dinner parties, where the Australian public tries Lindy and finds her guilty...

In the lead role, Streep is given a thankless assignment to show us a woman who deliberately refused to allow insights into herself. She succeeds, and so, of course, there are times when we feel frustrated because we do not know what Lindy is thinking or feeling. We begin to dislike the character, and then we know how the Australian public felt. Streep's performance is risky, and masterful.

Vincent Canby, The New York Times

Fred Schepisi's "Cry in the Dark" is based on the sort of true stroy beloved by supermarket tabloids that feature headlines about mothers who boil their babies for breakfast....

"A Cry in the Dark" has much of the manner of a television docudrama, ultimately being a rather comforting celebration of personal triumph over travails so dread and so particular that they have no truly disturbing, larger application.

Yet "A Cry in the Dark" is better than that, mostly because of another stunning performance by Meryl Streep, who plays Lindy Chamberlain with the kind of virtuosity that seems to redefine the possibilities of screen acting....